Some of you know of Hearthie, who lives in a part of California which is under fire watch. On Facebook, she and her friends have been working out who needs to be evacuated and who is safe. [1]
There are those, particularly people irritated with the antics of the elite in San Francisco, Hollywood and Sacramento, who are pleased about such. Some may say that it is a commentary from the almighty on the policies of such. I don’t think so: it is human stupidity to throw cigarette butts out when there is a high fire risk. It is more stupidity to not manage forests to minimise fires.
But most people are idiots.
On the prayer list at the moment is safety for Hearthie and the faithful remnant at her city: I note that her church has had to close down some things because of this fire. There are many poor and children in California, and not all of them can leave. Pray also that their government comes to its senses.
And be aware that the fire season in the Antipodes is just starting. We may need prayers and support soon enough.
- It took a bit of fiddling with the comments to get a screenshot that did not mention suburbs or city.
UPDATE.
Hearthie emails me:
No one has died in the Lilac fire, not one person. Lots of very expensive horses, but no people. A few minor burns, a dislocated shoulder. And homes gone. Farms and businesses. (It was farming area, where it burned). That’s worth being grateful for.
Andrew Torba, the developer of Gab. posted this.
Continue to pray that the people will be spared.
UPDATE
Hearthie posted this on facebook (11th December)
Fire update for those folks not in town:
The fire isn’t OUT, the fire won’t be out until just before Christmas, but they’re letting everyone go back to their homes. So, we should be done. And the high winds are gone… at least according to the forecast. It’s been a long weekend. :p
Thanks all for the prayers. 🙂 One might pray for rain for all of Cali – there is still quite a bit burning, and we’re very dry.
So prayers continue. In the meantime, I am reliably informed it is raining heavily back home and the wife is worried about flooding.
Thank you, Chris. So far, so good. Go-bags packed, spending too much time staring at the computer screen. DH, 17yo, and I spent about an hour moving things well away from the house today. We’re sorted, just in case. My parents live even closer to the coast than I do, so we have somewhere to evac to, if it comes to that. If it comes to THEIR house, we’ll be at the beach, but hey – we’re all very good swimmers. :p
Today’s firemap hasn’t moved – the winds shifted (thank You God) and have been blowing from the ocean instead of straight down the river valley. If this continues, might blow itself out. However, still “0% contained” – so it’s not over until the fat lady sings.
The fire people have done a good job prepping. Firestorms are a fact of nature here. There were 60mph wind gusts yesterday with 5% humidity and we haven’t had measurable precipitation in six months. It wasn’t an if. It was a “where”.
If anything significant changes, I’ll keep you posted.
Again, thank you.
PS It might be God’s judgement on Cali, considering how much of our state has charcoaled this year. Just ’cause I’m in it doesn’t mean I’d argue.
Glad to hear that all is well for now. May you get through this without incident.
“PS It might be God’s judgement on Cali, considering how much of our state has charcoaled this year. Just ’cause I’m in it doesn’t mean I’d argue.”
No. High winds plus homeless mens’ campfires. God’s judgment has bad aim if it missed prime targets like City Hall.
My family in LA already evacuated their home. It’s no problem, they’re old hands at this. The joke in Los Angeles is that the four seasons are flood, fire, earthquake and riot.
We had a small fire 1 mile from my home that was probably started by homeless, as it was near an encampment. That was put out post-haste. The Lilac fire hasn’t been determined yet. It *could* have been a cig – it started on the freeway side, and started small. They’re combing the area.
And yep. Flood, fire, earthquake, riot. Although not so much flooding in the last decade, minus last year. Rain would be nice. -sigh- (The backcountry burns here regularly).
They’re letting people go home in much of the evacuated zone now. Many homes were lost, of course. Not as many as LA. God willing, the wind will stay calm and it will go out. The air quality is still bad, but vastly improved.
God blessed us. Another couple of hours of the 60mph winds that originally drove the fire and it would have been in a heavily populated area. Had the winds remained high as long as they’d been predicted to? It might have made the water.
Part of the problem in California is the forest service does not do enough controlled burns there. That means when these fires start there is a lot of old dried out underbrush that burns like a tinderbox.
It’s bad forestery/stewardship.
I remember from my days of hunting there how thick it was in places there.